It’s only been two games, but it’s hard not to be impressed with what Jalen Hurts has done on the field.
Especially after his latest performance in Arizona, where he threw three touchdowns, rushed for another, and accumulated 401 yards of total offense.
His team was down 16-0 in the first quarter, partially because of his poor play. But he battled back, throwing three touchdowns in the second quarter and bringing his team within one score heading into halftime. He then ran it in for a score at the end of the third quarter to tie things up.
Hurts wasn’t able to win the game, but he had his team in position to tie it up on his final two drives. Dallas Goedert dropped a touchdown on the second-to-last drive, and he probably could’ve snagged the tipped hail mary attempt on the final play if he dove for it.
“I think I hate losing more than I love winning,” Hurts said during his postgame presser. “I don’t want to hear any of the young player stuff, second career start. I don’t want to hear that. We didn’t get it done.”
No one wants to hang onto moral victories, but the way Hurts played has neutralized the loss for me a bit. I didn’t think we’d see this kind of performance out of Hurts, at least not this early in his career.
He has so much command over his offense. The timing he has with his receivers is remarkable considering this was just his second career start.
Even when the chips were down, or when Hurts made a poor throw or fumbled the ball, he didn’t let it drag him or the rest of the team down. Hurts is a resilient guy, and that shouldn’t surprise any of us given all the adversity he dealt with during his collegiate career.
Aside from the intangibles, Hurts just flat-out balled on the field on Sunday. He was the first Eagles quarterback to complete seven passes of at least 20 yards since Nick Foles did it in 2018 against the Texans. He’s the ninth quarterback in NFL history with at least four touchdowns passes and no interceptions in his first two starts.
Only four quarterbacks have thrown for 338 yards and rushed for 63 in a game this season: Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson, Justin Herbert, and Jalen Hurts. And here’s one more stat that may piss off some Carson Wentz apologists: Hurts finished Sunday’s game with over 300 yards, three TDs, zero INTs, and a passer rating over 100; Wentz has put up those numbers just once in his 68 career starts.
I’m not saying it’s time to ship Carson Wentz out of town just yet. Like I said, it’s only been two games. All I know is right now, at this moment as I’m writing this, it feels like Hurts will be the face of the franchise moving forward. He just has an ‘It’ factor that I haven’t seen out of Carson Wentz in a long time.
Hurts certainly isn’t a perfect quarterback, far from it actually. But with a full offseason of work, with his work ethic I can only imagine the strides he’ll make in his game during that time.
These final two games will be huge for Hurts. If he’s able to rally his guys and get into the postseason, which isn’t as far fetched as you may think after both Washington and New York lost on Sunday, this has to be his team next year and beyond.
The Jalen Hurts experience has been fun so far, and I think it could get even more exciting during these final two NFC East games.
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